Household & Personal Moves to the USA

A household move from the UAE to the United States tends to arrive with a hard deadline. A visa start date, a school enrolment in the Bay Area, a Manhattan lease that begins on the first of the month, a Houston relocation tied to an energy-sector role — something is waiting at the American end that cannot move. Seemleius household and personal relocation to the USA is built around that reality: the shipment leaves on a date that works, the transit time is baked into the plan from the beginning, and US customs is not left to figure out on arrival.

What US customs expects from a personal shipment

US Customs & Border Protection takes household goods seriously. Personal effects and used household goods brought in by a returning resident or new arrival are generally duty-free — but that exemption is not automatic. It requires a CBP Form 3299 (Declaration for Free Entry of Unaccompanied Articles) completed correctly, a valued and detailed inventory, copies of the entry visa and passport, and documentation that clearly establishes your status as a bona fide resident moving to the US for at least 12 months. It also requires an honest prohibited-items check: the US restricts items ranging from certain woods and ivory to medications, drone components, and food products of animal origin, and a single prohibited item can trigger inspection of the entire container.

We prepare all of this with you before anything is packed. The goal is a clean first-submission clearance at New York, Los Angeles, Houston or Savannah — not a hold for inspection that adds two weeks and several thousand dollars of port storage to the move.

Settling in: the first 90 days in the US

The freight is one half of the move. The other half is what happens after you land. Family movers on this corridor typically face the same opening sequence: an SSN application within the first fortnight, US health insurance enrolment through an employer plan or marketplace policy, public-school admissions or private-school placements timed to the semester start, and a state driver’s license appointment once a residence address is established. We do not file those forms for you, but we time the shipment so it arrives once you have a US address — not before, when it would sit in storage, and not after, when you would be sleeping on the floor of your new home.

City-specific arrival notes

What we move

• Furniture of all types — disassembled, wrapped, packed for a sea or air transit and reassembled on delivery
• Electronics and appliances — voltage compatibility noted and documented (UAE 220V to US 110V requires either step-down transformers or replacement at the US end, and we will tell you which makes sense)
• Fragile items, art, mirrors and valuables — individually packed and crated as the item demands
• Personal effects, clothing, books, children’s toys and the everyday contents of family life
• Special categories — pianos, wine collections (subject to state alcohol regulations), home gym equipment

Your options on this corridor

How a household move to the USA runs

1. Survey and plan. We assess your home in the UAE, run through sea and air options with realistic costs and arrival windows, and build the shipment plan around your US start date.
2. Document and declare. CBP paperwork, the detailed valued inventory and the prohibited-items review are completed with you before packing begins.
3. Pack for the journey. Our crew packs to export standard, finalises the inventory and dispatches the shipment from Jebel Ali or DXB.
4. Clear and deliver. We manage US customs clearance at the gateway port and coordinate onward trucking to your home address — including the lift booking, COI and stairwell protection that US buildings frequently require.

Start with a quote — we will work out the right freight option for your timeline and your budget. Request yours here.